GA GQP Moving To Block Local Government Shifts To Lower-Carbon Energy, Because "Freedom"
With Atlanta sitting at 1,000 feet above sea level and a nearly five-hour drive to the beach, Georgia lawmakers on the whole don't seem too concerned with sea level rise from climate change. But many coastal municipal leaders are worried about it. Case in point: the Savannah City Council. This eight-member board last year unanimously passed Savannah's 100% clean energy resolution, which says all electricity consumed in the city of Savannah will be generated from renewable energy by 2035, and all other energy needs will be generated from renewable energy by 2050.
City Council didn't even get a plan written to reach those goals before lawmakers under the gold dome, with some nudging from fossil fuel companies, proposed legislation that would make it harder to quit using natural gas. House Bill 150 would prevent local governments in Georgia from adopting building codes based on the source of energy they use. The legislation also would apply to state agencies. The bill made its way through the house and is now being considered by the senate.
"It really limits the municipalities on energy choices," Savannah Alderman Nick Palumbo said. "We are a home rule state, where local government knows best. And we're advocating to make sure that it stays that way so that your city has a choice in their energy choices. And House Bill 150 would take away that right. It would preempt municipalities from being able to make those energy choices and force you to take energy, like coal or natural gas that maybe residents don't want into the future."
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Both Muir and Palumbo said the chairman of the Committee on Regulated Industries and Utilities, Republican Bill Cowsert of Athens, discounted the impact cities would have on global warming even if they did decrease their carbon footprints. "And he went on to say one city isn't going to change the temperature of the earth by one centimeter. I'm going to go ahead and ignore the fact that he doesn't seem to understand we measure temperature in degrees and not centimeters. Because what I think is really important here for all of us to be focusing on is that he's belittling the impact that his constituents and the rest of us in Georgia can have in addressing an issue that we care about."
Ed. - Emphasis added.
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https://www.savannahnow.com/story/news/2021/03/22/georgia-general-assembly-lawmakers-climate-change-savannah-athens-ga/4651247001/
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